Attribution Audit

A complete review of your channels, campaigns and marketing technology platforms to determine what's working, what's not, and how to improve them

Giving you insight to marketing ROI and actionable budgeting data

Attribution is the process of working out what activities result in traffic, leads, customers and revenue.

For example, attribution allows you to answer questions such as:

did our Google Ads spend result in good quality leads and customers?
did our Facebook advertising result in sales on our ecommerce store?
did our LinkedIn advertising result in repeat customers?
did our email marketing grow our revenue this quarter?
which campaign should we increase budget for?

Accurate attribution is crucial for giving you visibility into what's working for your business.

Sounds obvious right? Sadly, for many businesses, the tools for accurate attribution haven't been set up correctly, or maintained...

What is Attribution Audit

Go into your favourite analytics platform (eg Google Analytics, HubSpot Analytics) and check your Sources report (ie to view the traffic you get from each channel).
Look for the Direct traffic channel. If your direct traffic is a high proportion of your traffic, then you have an attribution problem.

Here's an example:

Example #1

In contrast, here's an example of a site with good attribution - notice how direct traffic is much lower:

Attribution problem example

Wait, what's Direct Traffic?

Not sure what Direct traffic is? Direct traffic is the 'source' that traffic gets assigned by analytics programs if they can't tell where the traffic has come from. ie it's 'unknown' traffic!

This is a big problem if you spend a lot of money on paid advertising, but can't report on it accurately. We've worked with businesses who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Retargeting & YouTube Ads, but can't tell what results they return.

If you can't analyse to see what's working, you can't make informed decisions about where to allocate budget.

Stage 1:

Check Setup of Tools

Stage 2:

Review Reports

Stage 3:

Highlight Issues

Stage 4:

Fix Issues

Stage 5:

Review Reports Again

Stage 6:

Setup Dashboards

Why Organise an Attribution Audit?

If you've been using paid channels (eg Facebook & Instagram ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn, Remarketing platforms) for a while, you should accumulated a good set of data to analyse for insights and decision making. But if you can't accurately view the channels and which campaign in each has driven results, then you have an attribution problem.

It's time to review your setup and ensure your attribution reporting is accurate and actionable.

We review your marketing technology stack, work with your teams and suppliers and analyse results to determine issues and recommend fixes.

Who is the Attribution Audit ideal for?

Mid-large companies
Who have been using a range of channels (including paid and email) for more than 6 months
Who feel that they are not seeing accurate reporting of attribution of results

Attribution Audit Scope

We highly value our customer relationships and we do our best to make sure you're happy with the work we do. We find it helps to make sure we are both on the same page from the start about what's included and what's not to avoid any confusion later on.

Inclusions:

Initial discovery calls with you and your team(s) and suppliers to
- understand the extent of your marketing technology and advertising platforms
- understand how you report on sales and revenue
- understand integrations with systems (eg SAP, NetSuite, HubSpot, Shopify)
Full review of your marketing channels across organic, social, paid, email and referral traffic
Grades against each area in the Attribution Audit Checklist
Highlighting of issues
Recommendations for improvement
Walkthrough of the findings and answers to any questions you have
Actionable checklist to help you start improving your attribution issues

Exclusions:

The Audit does not include implementation that requires coding development (eg integration flows with other systems). For example, if conversion data is stored in a system such as SAP, NetSuite or Adobe Commerce (aka Magento), this will require custom coding integration development - which isn't included in the Audit.

Attribution Areas Reviewed

Benefits

You've been spending money to get results - and things can get overwhelming. You made a significant investment into Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads and more - make sure your dollars are driving a good return.

Our Attribution Audit service has helped clients to:

Uncover incorrect tracking of results
Highlight issues and assign priorities to fix them
Reduce wasted spend caused by a non-performing campaigns
Discover surprise channels that are working and can be expanded
Optimise channels to save time and money
Achieve better engagement with contacts and customers
Improve reporting processes and visibility

Benefits

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the Attribution Audit cost?
How long does the Attribution Audit take?
Do you have an Attribution Audit brochure I can download?
Who is the Attribution Audit ideally suited for?
What is the waitlist waiting time for the Attribution Audit?
How qualified are your team to do the Attribution Audit review and implementation?
The XEN team are extremely well qualified to help with your Attribution Audit review and implementation.
- We've been working with a range of mid-large companies for more than a decade
- Extensive experience across digital marketing technology platforms, and advertising platforms
Please check the XEN About page for details of the team and our certifications.
I'm already working with another agency, is this a problem?

We'd expect this.

You're likely working with a range of ad management agencies, who manage the campaigns.

We're not going to take over any of their function. Instead we'll be working closely with them to check if we can improve the reporting they get back.

If they have better visibility on attribution, they can get you better results.

You other agencies will consider this a benefit to them (ie not a threat).
This sounds like an analytics review, is that correct?

XEN's knowledge of all things HubSpot and their ability to transform a complex project into some simple steps have been invaluable during our HubSpot journey so far. We have recommended and will continue to recommend XEN.

Peter Geale

Peter Geale

Firemate

XEN continually take the time to understand why and guide us in the right direction. Craig has been instrumental in our adoption of HubSpot and the success we've seen. I'm certain that we wouldn't be in the favourable position we are in today without XEN.

Michaela Murray

Michaela Murray

WARDY

XEN provided great advice on strategy and also managed the site redesign plus HubSpot rollout. The project was a big success and we continue to rely on XEN for expert advice and assistance. We've been impressed with their comprehensive knowledge of HubSpot.

Malcolm Macnaughtan

Malcolm Macnaughtan

Maestrano

XEN’s combination of technical knowledge, processes, attention to detail and digital campaign strategy development make them an asset; and with their collaborative approach they really are an extension of our marketing team.

Alex Tesoriero

Alex Tesoriero

Brother International Australia

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